Allegories

[Dark Qiviut 22,618]

Allegories, or extended literary metaphors, are an established literary device. Entertainment of all kinds use it at some point. FIM included. Some are:

1. The critique of a client's push for the way they want it in Suited for Success. The ReMane Five are all allegories of five client archetypes. Twilight micromanages, Pinkie's visual sense stinks, AJ couldn't care less about design, Fluttershy acts like a know-it-all, and Dash has no sense of visual satisfaction. It's part allegory and part criticism.
2. The effects of stage fright in Hurricane Fluttershy and Filli Vanilli. Fluttershy explains how she got stage fright, but you don't get to see it until you see all of those eyes staring down on her. She hyperventillates, breaks down, and runs off. Similar imagery reappears in FV, although which scares you most reflects on perspective.
3. Season five has at least four allegories.
   
   The Cutie Map: Cultism. Starlight was the cult leader. Everypony else was brainwashed into believing the only way to live is to be of low-level equal talent. What helped make Starlight's charisma scary is Double Diamond found his skis and implied that he willingly gave up his talent.
   
   Tanks for the Memories: Death. Dash underwent the five stages of grief throughout: denial anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. Past episodes showed how close Dash and Tank were, so to not be with her tortoise all winter would hit her pretty hard.
   
   Do Princesses Dream of Magic Sheep?: Self-harm, specifically cutting. Luna self-punished because she never forgave herself. The Tantabus was created to not only accentuate her nightmares, but to also be a bank to help her escape. In real life, one big reason many with depression cut is to alleviate the mental pain. But the reason why Luna didn't reveal any of it until the climax is because she didn't want anyone to view her as too vulnerable to run a kingdom. Often, cutters hide their cutting so well, you don't notice it. Why? Because they fear them getting involved will only make them view him or herself as weak.
   
   Slice of Life: Mayor Mare's speech at the end is a literal metaphor of DHX's relationship with the fandom. All of the background characters have some impact in one way or another, either in the canon or through headcanon/fanon. Her speech and overall production of the audience shots signify the brony fandom's importance in not only the show, but also themselves.

It's no secret that FIM has used allegories, specifically intentional ones, over the years. Whether they're executed well or not depends on how well they're written.

 

So, I have some questions.

1. What allegories in the show stand out to you the most? They don't have to be any of the examples above.
2. Which was your favorite allegory, and why?
3. Which was your least-favorite allegory, and why?
4. Which allegories do you want to see in the future? They can be in GM Berrow's books, the comics, the episodes, or EQG. Please explain the allegory, and ask yourself if the allegory's execution (especially if dealing with a serious subject) is appropriate for the all-ages/TV-Y content rating.

My answers to the questions are:

1. The Cutie Map's cultism and the allegory of quantity vs. quality in Canterlot Boutique. How TCM executed Starlight's evil was so blunt and so creepy (including "You can't have a nightmare if you never dream" and the use of real-life brainwashing methods), it makes me want nothing to do with Our Town. Then in CB, Rarity grew her business, but Canterlot only wanted one type of dress and forced her to reproduce it with no alterations despite Rarity wanting to display a variety of her talent.
2. My favorite is Mayor Mare's speech. Slice of Life was a fantastic thank-you present to the fandom, and the way it ended and how it was excruciatingly executed punctuated my love for it.
3. Least favorite is the self-harm allegory because it was so poorly handled. Self-harm isn't to laugh about nor should it be written haphazardly. One minute, Luna spilled her pain, and the next, Luna was able to let go and sleep peacefully. Depression is a very serious mental illness. No one will feel better overnight. There's no absolute solution for it. Don't insult your audience and anyone who suffer(ed) from depression by presuming it as such.
4. I want to see an adult blank flank in the future. Throughout FIM, every single adult pony knew what their roles will be in life and get their marks while they're fillies. But in real life, it's not always like that. Many adults go to graduate school or return to college later in life to extend or pursue different careers. FIM is an all-ages, gender-neutral, and family-friendly cartoon. But you don't see many cartoons express the fact that many adults don't know what their careers will be until much later. To present an adult blank flank delivers this message to kids.

[BlueBrony 388]

My favorite allegory from the show has to be death from tanks for the memories. I think they did a really good job showing the stages of grief, even though the last few steps had to be rushed for time. It is really hard to talk about death in a kids show, and I think this episode did it beautifully. Out of all the allegories presented in the show, I think this one was the most risky and most rewarding.

 

 

I would like to see divorce tackled on this show, whether allegorically or literally. I would also like to see more dealing with disability, sort of like with scootaloo in that one cutie mark crusader episode.

[Yellow Diamond 7,579]

I disagree that "Do Princesses Dream of Magic Sheep?" was a direct allegory to self-harm. If anything, it was a general allegory (perhaps with a healthy side of a Space Whale Aesop, since most nightmares don't physically emerge as potentially world destroying entities) to those occasions when feelings of guilt consume one's life. Yes, that can result in self-harm -- but Luna's essential fears were loaded with self-doubt and remorse that led to a reluctance to seek help where help was needed. The moral emphasized confronting your own doubts and anxieties in a healthy way rather than boxing them in or personifying their attributes in something/someone else. Like I said half-jokingly in the episode discussion thread, the episode has direct analogues to Age of Ultron's message on creating the things we dread.

 

The best, or most effective, allegory far and away goes to "The Cutie Map." That was a masterfully executed episode from beginning to end, covering the type of content I'd expect from a popular yet thought provoking medium, like Star Trek. And like many excellent Star Trek episodes, "The Cutie Map" carefully threaded its narrative through and around a decisive moral message, viz. cults and the denial of personal identity are often very dangerous and harmful, and artful lampshade hangings, such as when Starlight Glimmer shouted down Twilight's attempt at moralizing the problem into a friendship lesson.

[Jammo 986]

Magical Mystery Cure could be seen as an allegory for biblical death, ascension and rebirth.

 

Twilight being a miracle worker, favoured by what's essentially a God, faces a great trial, solves it but appears to have been sacrificed in the process. She is taken to a heavenly plane, her life is reflected upon before she returns to earth as a higher being, complete with a star appearing in the sky and angelic wings.

Edited December 3, 2015 by Jammo